Title: Home SafeWord Count: 333Rating: Teen and UpOriginal/Fandom: Stargate: SG-1Characters/Pairings: Jack/SamWarnings: noneSummary: episode tag to The Scourge. Jack is having problems being The Man *g*Notes: written for writerverse 333 words challenge. Part of the Always series.

Home Safe

“Jack.”

He remained stubbornly facing away from her. “If the words ‘happens to everyone,’ ‘age,’ or ‘blue pill’ come out of your mouth, I’m sleeping on the couch.”

“You’ve been under a lot of stress lately.”

“That’s close enough,” he grunted, and sat up abruptly.

“Please stay.” The pain and fatigue in her voice mirrored his own. He turned toward her, but couldn’t find the words to start; there was too much to say. The Gamma site, Prior bugs, stuck behind a desk while she risked life and limb.

“You thought we were dead,” she began for him.

“No,” he corrected despondently. “I thought you were still alive. And I still signed off on sending the Odyssey to destroy all life on that planet.”

“The bugs had to be contained, Jack.”

“I know that,” he snapped, then took a deep breath. “It’s just... the waiting, not knowing if you’ll come home...”

Sam looked at him. This promotion was hard on him: too much thinking, not enough doing. It was taking a heavier toll on him than they had anticipated.

“I’m home. I’m here,” she whispered, moving closer to him. His eyes were still far away, still trapped where he waited to hear if SG-1 had beaten the ever-lengthening odds again.

She cradled his hand against her cheek. “I’m here,” she repeated.

She pressed a kiss against the beat of his heart. “I’m home.” Her fingers traced feather-light strokes down his abdomen and then began to lightly massage his thigh muscles. After a few minutes, she began to work her way up, straddling him as she reached around to apply pressure along his spine.

“I’m here,” she repeated, whispering the words against his lips. She felt him begin to harden beneath her.

He looked at her with love and lust and want and need. “I can think of another way you could remind me of that.” He slipped his arms around her, pulling her tightly against him, whole and alive and here, for now.